“Red Sunday” launched nationwide

This year’s Blood Donation Campaign named ‘Red Sunday 2018’ was held at Hanoi University of Science and Technology on January 21. Thousands of students and young volunteers joined in the program.

Volunteers taking part in the Tenth ‘Red Sunday’ in 2018

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh stated at the event that blood donation was such a noble action to honor our long-lasting tradition of humanity. For more than 20 years, this national campaign has attracted millions of people, gathering more than 1.2 million units of blood just last year alone to meet 70 percent of the demand of treatment as well as emergency situations.

“I am deeply moved by the number of enthusiastic blood donors, many of whom have already donated their blood numerous times, or even taken part in the program of ‘Live Blood Bank’ not only to donate blood themselves but also to mobilize others to join in the campaign. All of them are brilliant examples for citizens in their own communities”, said Binh.

Mr. Binh also highlighted that in the last few days, the media have mentioned about the serious situation of blood shortages, especially type O, among many hospitals nationwide, which leaves us concerned about the patients who were not able to receive blood in time.

The good news is that via the media, thousands of people have come to the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion as well as other hospitals to donate their blood. This should be considered as a noble action since it alone signals both love and responsibilities of healthy people towards the sick in particular and the community in general.

The ‘Red Sunday 2018’ campaign themed ‘Donate Blood to Save Life: Mine and Yours’ was jointly organized by Tien Phong Newspaper, the National Steering Committee on Traffic Safety, and the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion prior to every Tet holiday.

The event of the Tenth Red Sunday this year was held from the middle of December 2017 in 31 provinces and large cities with more than 60 hubs of blood donation, attracting the participation of many offices, organizations, universities, colleges, and businesses. Up till January 21, it had already collected nearly 25,000 units of blood, with the anticipation of at least 35,000 units when the campaign finishes at the end of this January.

On January 21, just under 3,000 officers, lecturers, and students of many schools as well as enterprises in HCMC joined in the campaign of ‘Red Sunday 2018’.

According to Mr. Vu Tien, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong Newspaper and Deputy Head of the Organization Board of ‘Red Sunday 2018’, the campaign have taken place since December 10, 2017 until January 28, 2018 with more than 60 hubs of blood donation in cities and provinces nationwide.

It is estimated that 150,000 people will take part in the event.

Particularly, in the morning of January, in HCMC alone, nearly 1,600 units were collected successfully. Before that, the organization board also cooperated with the Humanitarian Blood Donation Center to gather over 15,000 units of blood from donors in various locations to add into the National Blood Bank.